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  3. My car’s gear lever does more than dispense transmission rations. It panders to me. It cajoles and beckons. It wears out its chr

My car’s gear lever does more than dispense transmission rations. It panders to me. It cajoles and beckons. It wears out its chr

admin2015-10-21  53
问题     My car’s gear lever does more than dispense transmission rations. It panders to me. It cajoles and beckons. It wears out its chrome heart to make my life easier, for—as its manufacturers are quick to claim—the company devotes hundreds of man-hours to testing and retesting each possible design and configuration to see which does the job best. Which shape fits most naturally into a human hand? Which covering is most pleasing? And which overall look makes your fingers tremble with anticipation?
    This curious pursuit, reputedly espoused by and entrenched within all of today’s major manufacturing firms, is called ergonomics, defined as "the degree to which the system has been developed with the human user in mind". Personally, I like the sound of the word. I wish only that the results lived up to the hype.
    Recently, for example, I purchased a rowing machine for home exercise. Within minutes of unwrapping my booty, I realized the unit I was so cautiously dissecting did not in any way match the color picture on the box. The assembly instructions hinted darkly that putting the contraption together would be only slightly less complex than building a nuclear reactor. Perseverance paid off, however. After applying equal amounts of time and luck, I was finally able to make my rower. But the only cogent ergonomic thought that went into the design of this product was the shape of the cardboard container it was packed in. That’s ergonomics in the real world.
    Take videocassette recorders: VCRs are like snowflakes—no two are quite alike. While all are intended to do more or less the same things—play, record now, record later—the actual designs are about as consistent and predictable as a roulette wheel. If you lose or misplace the manual, you end up with little more than a digital clock.
    And then there is the ubiquitous microwave oven. What do those "low" /’medium" and "high" settings really hint at? Show me a consumer sufficiently schooled in the effect of microwave transmissions on food molecules to properly—and intuitively—select the optimal setting! Only small children, bless then, seem to know how to make these machines bend to their wills. "Put it on high and blast it," says my nine-year-old niece. I do. It works.
    Can anyone truly say the modern car is designed with the human user in mind? Recall the last time you plopped behind the wheel of your neighbor’s new vehicle. How quickly did you find the knob that popped open the bonnet or the hood? Were you able to adjust the left-side mirror without adjusting the right-side mirror, activating the headlight washers or wipers, or possibly lowering the convertible top? Did you know which lever to push or pull to slide the seat forward without simultaneously upsetting the angle of the seat back or exploding the pneumatically pressured back-support?
    As with most of today’s products, the only thing we really know about car seats is that, given the correct incentive, they will move. Beyond that, you—and your ergonomically inspired intuition— are completely on your own.
The controls of a modern car are criticized for being______.
选项 A、difficult to identify
B、less reliable
C、too sophisticated
D、badly positioned
答案A
解析 推断题。第六段三至五句提到，你找到按钮、拧开引擎盖或发动机罩花了多长时间?你……而同时不变动座椅靠背的角度或触发气动压力的背部支撑吗?可见，作者批判的是汽车商生产汽车时没有贯彻人体工程学的理念，驾驶人不知哪个按钮控制车辆的哪一部分，故[A]为答案。文章没有提到汽车控制部件不可靠、过于复杂，也无法推出各部分位置设置不当，故排除其他三项。
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